More women are running for local, state, and national office in the United States than ever before—and winning. Although women currently make up only around 20 percent of the US Congress, more than 500 women filed to run for Congressional positions in this year’s election, and 257 have advanced in primary elections. Come election day on November 6, a record-breaking number of women will be on... Read More

“Finding people with a common vision has helped make this a movement around the world.” – Usha Rane, Pratham

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), an education approach pioneered by education NGO Pratham, is designed to help ensure that all children learn the basics of reading and mathematics in primary school. The approach, developed and strengthened in India, is now taking root in Africa.

Amy Finkelstein is the John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the co-Scientific Director of J-PAL North America. She was recently selectedas a recipient of a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship, "a no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more."

First of all, congratulations! This a great achievement—of course well

Craig McIntosh is a professor of economics in the international relations school at the University of California, San Diego and Co-Chair of J-PAL’s Agriculture sector. He has been a J-PAL affiliate since 2013.

How did you become interested in development economics?

I was a high school exchange student in Nakuru, Kenya for a year in the late eighties. Every one of my brothers, uncles, and cousins in my... Read More

Technology is increasingly opening up new and promising opportunities to improve educational achievement in schools. Governments in Latin America are investing significant resources to adopt education technologies, or ed tech, with the promise of improving learning outcomes. Some of these investments are not evidence-based and risk wasting public resources with ineffective approaches. Despite this, there is strong demand among some actors for data and evidence.

The college application and enrollment process in the United States is complex. For aspiring first-generation college students, that complexity can overwhelm even the best intentions to enroll in and finish college. However, there is emerging evidence that personalized assistance on college applications and matriculation requirements can help students overcome these initial barriers in attaining a college degree.

In this third blog post in our three-part series on access to... Read More